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Love The Unimaginable World That Is Already Here
There is too much we ignore because we choose to. I’ve learned to love feeling small.
I remember the first time I watched someone perform in public. I remember thinking I’d never be able to do something like that. A few months down the line I was performing, too.
Today I learned that Ethiopia has speakers of 80 different languages. In fact, I also learned that its population is just short of 120 million. I only found out because I talked to someone who is from there. One of the things I enjoy about having lived abroad for most of my adult life is the chance it gives you to meet people from different parts of the world.
Granted, the Information Age has made it easier than ever to connect with other humans from almost any corner of the Earth. However, there is so much we have no idea about that it can be staggering. Indeed, even in our connected world, we generally stick to what is familiar. What is familiar we can navigate. What is foreign we need to learn first. Thus familiar is safe, and safe is good. Thus foreign is unsafe, and unsafe is bad. This astonishingly simplistic and reductionistic mindset dictates a bigger part of our decisions than we dare to acknowledge.